Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1887-12-15


brief years ago And is it not time, fellow
citizens, that we pause to consider what is to
be the future of the American.
Food itself has been the subject of change
both in the matter of material and prepara-
ton. This must affect the consumer i'll such
way as to some day bring about great
changes Take, for instance, the oyster, one
of our comparatively modern food and game
fishes, and watch the effects of science upon
him. At one time the oyster browsed around
and ate what he could find in Neptune's back
yard, and we had to take him as we found
him. Now we take herd of oysters off the
trail, all run down, and feed them artificial
ly till they swell up to fancy size and bring
fancy price. Now, where will all this lead
at lastl | ask as a careful scientist. Instead
of eating apples, as Adam did, we work the
fruit up into applejack and pie, while even
the simple oyster is perverted, and instead of
allowing him to fatten up in the fall ON
acorns and ancient mariners, flesh is artifci-
ally put on his bones by the artificial OsmOse
and dialysis of our advanced civilization.
How can you make an oyster stout or train
him down by making him jerk health lift
SO many hours every day, or cultivate his
body at the expense of his mind, without ul-
timately not only impairing the future use
fulness of the oyster himself, but at the same
time affecting the future of the human race!
only use the oyster as an illustration, and
| do not wish to cause alarm, but say that
if we stimulate the oyster artificially and
swell him up by scientific means we not only
do SO at the expense of his better nature and
keep him away from his family, but we are
making our mark on the future race OF men.
Oyster fattening is now, of course, in its in
fancy. Only a few years ago an effort was
made to fatten cove oysters at st. Louis
while in the can, but the system was not
well understood and those who had it in charge
only succeeded in making the can itself more
plump. But now oysters are kept on ground
feed and given nothing to do for few weeks,
and even the older and overworked sway
backed and rickety oysters of the dim and
murky past are made to fill out and many of
them have to put gore i'll the waistband OF
their shells / only speak of the oyster in
cidentally as one of the objects towards
which science has turned its attention, and l
assert with the utmost confidence that the
time will come, unless science should get
set back, when the present hunting case oys-
ter will give place to the open face oyster,
grated on the octopus and big enough to
a II
of the future will carry in a hip pocket
flask of vinegar, half dozen lemons and
two little japanese bottles one of which will
contain salt and the other pepper, and there
will be some way provided by which you can
tell which is which. But are we improving
the oyster now: That is a question we may
weE ask ourselves. Is this a healthy fat
which we are putting on him or is it bloat.
~. l. 70
of the oyster! We take him from all home
influences whatever in order to make a swell
! of him by our modern methods, but do we
improve his condition morally, and what is
to be the great final result on man.
The reader will see by the questions | ask
that | am true scientist. Give me an over
coat pocket full of 1oWer case interrogation
marks and a medical report to run to, and L
can speak on the matter of science and adj
vancement till Reason tOtters on her throne.
But food and oysters do not alone affect the
great, pregnant future Our race is being
tampered with not only by means of adulter-
ations, political combinations and climatic
changes, but even our methods of relaxation
are productive of peculiar physical condi-
tions, malformatiOns and some more things
of that kind.
Cigarette smoking produces HaDDy anu
endogenous condition of the optic nerve, and
constant listening at a telephone and always
with the same ear gradually decreases the
power of the other ear till it finally just
stands around drawing its salary, but ac-
tually refusing to hear anything. Carrying
an eight pound cane makes man lopsided,
and the muscular and nervous strain that is
necessary to retain single eyeglass and keep
it out of the soup, year after year, draws the
mental stimulus that should go to the thinker
itself, until at last the mind wanders away
and forgets TO come back, or becomes afro
phied, and the great mental strain incident
to the work of pounding sand or coming in
when it rains is more than it is equal to.
Football produces what may be called the
endogenous or ingrowing toe nail, string halt
and mania. Copenhagen induces melancholy,
and the game of bean bags is unduly exciting.
Horse racing is too brief and transtory as an
outdoor game, requiring weeks and months
for preparation and lasting only long enough
for a quick person to calculate "Scat" The
pitchers arm is a new disease, the outgrowth
of baseball; the lawn tennis elbow is another
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